Rescue of Lady Moon, AGAIN!

[DamedEscrime]

"ZELDA, come on. Snap out of it. We have to get to the river. Arcon needs us. NOW, show me the way."

[Willow]

Willow gasped, the breath knocked out of her, as she hit the ground. Making a quick mental survey, she realized that she was thankfully unhurt. Standing up, she quickly assessed the situation. Zoran had caught her by surprise once. She must not let it happen again. "Zoran, why would you want to kill your own child? Why would you want to kill the woman you loved?"

Zoran sneered at her. "Why would I want to be with anyone who won't help me? Your mother begged me for her life, but it did no good. She rejected me and hid you away from me. She DESERVED to die for that! If you aren't for me, you are against me and must die." Throwing another bolt of electricity from his hands at her, Willow, prepared this time, sidestepped him and threw out a bolt of her own. It hit Zoran in his chest, knocking him down. He looked a bit surprised. "I didn't know you knew how to do that." Willow told him, "I didn't, but I learn very quickly. It won't be so easy for you. You could walk away, you know. I don't want to hurt or kill you."

Laughing, he began to approach her. Moving away from Zoran, Willow began to move in a wide circle. She had to get him away from Meekal and Latenight. She didn't want them hurt by the fight. Latenight was needed by Arconia. Meekal may have been daft, but he did want to do the right thing. The pair had kept silent, watching the action before them. Latenight was also trying to figure out a way to get free. But the power that held them trapped to the trees was unbreakable. This was a first to Latenight. Meekal just sat there, silently imploring his rock friends to help him.

Trying another tactic, Willow asked Zoran, "Did you see the battle between Arcon and Zarcon? They both went over the cliff into the sea." Zarcon laughed, saying, "I could care less what happens to those two idiots. My only goal in working with Zarcon was to get money and to meet up with you." Willow nodded, this was what she had feared. A reckless wizard with a grudge could be a powerful enemy. This battle was going to take more than mere magic. How could she use her wits to defeat this crazy wizard?

Could she make it out of this alive?

[its_me_mango]

it took you three pages to look out over the cliff into the sea..... i did that in one paragraph, 6 months ago, with arcon...
he was driving a white van, he skidded to the edge of the cliff, he went over, i was swimming with george bush in the blue lagoon, what is this why are we rescuing willow again, how did this happen? the van, it went up in a puff of smoke, no traces of arcon have been seen since, but WAIT.. Zelda peeked over the edge of the cliff looking into the lagoon. A small, slow movement of a persons hand waving feebly from below caught her eye. Could that be....>!

[Moonitic]

It took maybe 3 posts, not 3 pages. If that's how someone wants to write to build suspense, then there is no need to be critical of that person.

[Swordsman]

Don't worry about it, Moon. Just mango being her usual delightfully schizophrenic self...

[lochinvar]

He sat motionless for a long time, gazing down at the still body lying by the side of the trail.

Dust had collected where the sweat-lather had dried. An occaisional breeze stirred the coarse mane and tail, giving a slight appearance of mocking life to the otherwise quiet form.

The second horse he led stamped impatiently, but the gray under him stayed as still and motionless as his rider. Somewhere, a bird called incongruously.

Finally, with a weary slowness, he stood in his right stirrup, lifted his left leg off the padding, and dismounted. Moving haltingly and deliberately, he loosed the cinch and pulled the silver-worked saddle free from under the dead animal, and removed the saddle cloth. He re-seated them on the saddle-less mount, and cinched them tight. Then he returned to the dead horse, and slipped the bridle off, avoiding looking into the eyes – so liquid and expressive a few short days ago, now glazed, dusty, and empty.

He finished securing the bridle to the saddle horn of the remount, and wearily climbed again into his own saddle. The gray was used to his mounting from the wrong side now, and took it in stride, without any nicker of protest or even a sidestep.

After a last long moment of looking down over his erstwhile friend and companion, he turned the gray and continued his trek down the trail, dry-eyed. He would not weep now; there were things left to do.

There would be time in plenty for weeping later, and tears in plenty, also – tears for his dead horse, tears for his dead wife, tears for dead child he never knew, and tears for all of the dead, wasted days of his wasted and pointless life.

[Zelda]

All Zelda could see over and over again in her mind was ARcon falling over the cliff. There was a voice calling her, but she couldnt tell what it said. All she felt was emptiness, and pain.

[Willow]

Willow and Zoran circled each other, both wary of the other. When one threw lightning at the other, the other one was well prepared. It seemed that they were relatively evenly matched. Neither one was going to surrender to the other. "My daughter has learned her craft well." Willow screamed at him, "I am NOT your daughter. You may have gotten my mother pregnant, but that doesn't make you my father. My mother was very wise to run from you." Zoran laughed. "You may be right. My child should be HAPPY to join me. My child should have been with me her entire life, so that I could have raised her properly. Your education is so lacking."

Willow laughed. "Old man, you do not know me at all. My education was exactly as my mother would have wished. She was right to want me away from you. I just wish I could have met her." Zoran replied, "You are going to get your wish, my dear. You are about to meet her now!" He used his mind to throw Willow into a nearby tree. The sound she made as she hit the tree made Meekal start to cry. Latenight bit his lip so hard at his frustration that he tasted blood. They tried frantically to free themselves, but they couldn't. Zoran was too strong. Laughing evilly, he began to make his way over to wear Willow lay, crumpled on the ground.

[Willow]

Zoran looked at the crumpled form of his daughter. Strange that he should feel nothing for her, even in her death. She was right about one thing. She was a stranger to him. He reached out with his foot to touch her body. Suddenly, with incredibly fast speed and accuracy, Willow grabbed his foot with her hand, flipping him onto the ground (thank God for helping Lady Moon train!).

Zoran was taken by surprise. He tried to summon up another lightning bolt, but Willow, leaping to her feet, hit his hands, sending the bolts harmlessly off to the side. Angered beyond reason, he rushed her, trying to grab her by the throat. Reaching her hands into his, she grabbed his arms, and used her head to hit him in the throat. Gasping for air, Zoran fell to the ground. Willow watched him warily, prepared for anything he might do.

He raised himself up, looking at her with rage in his eyes. He ran at her with his arms outstretched. Willow let herself fall onto the ground, raising her feet up in the air. Flexing her right foot, a 6 inch dagger popped of the bottom of her boots (thank you, Nicholas!). Zoran screamed as he fell onto the blade. Then, there was silence.

[Moonitic]

Her tears ceased not long after they had started. She could smell the death that hung in the air. It was her fault, really. All of it. She rose, and looked around with new eyes. I know this place, she thought. Yes, she knew it well.

Lady Moon moved forward, toward the place where she heard the scream.

[Willow]

Gasping for breath, Willow pushed the body of her birth father off of the dagger in her boot. Blood trickled out of his mouth as he looked at her. "I never thought you could defeat me. I never dreamed you would be so strong or so smart. You are the kind of woman anyone would be proud to call a daughter." She watched as the life drained out of his eyes. Zoran was dead.

Meekal and Latenight were free from their bondage. Rushing over to Willow, Meekal hugged her and picked her up. "I thought you were dead!" Latenight laughed, and said, "Meekal, put her down. She is still hurt and needs help." Meekal apologized as he put Willow down. Smiling wanly, she assured him that she would be fine.

Suddenly, Willow realized that she could sense where Lady Moon was. Moon was at the cliffs! "Meekal, Latenight, Moon is back at the cliffs. Something is going to happen! We must head back at once."

The trio cautiously made their way back towards the cliffs.

[Moonitic]

Moon found two familiar forms standing by the cliff's edge. One was dressed in her blouse. "So that's where it went..." she mumbled. She walked right up to them as they stared downward into the deep, chilling water. They looked at her, unable to speak, then down below again. "Is that where he went?" Lady Moon asked. She received nothing but two nods.

"It's my fault, you know. For all of this. All over a misunderstanding..." She shook her head as the women raised their eyebrows at her. "It's okay, though. I'll fix it. This time."

She looked out over the ravine, & raised her arms to the sky. Behind her, a desperate voice yelled, "Princess! NO!"

Moon turned, & managed a smile. "It's okay. You won't have to take care of me anymore. You can go have your own life with your own family." Then she looked at Meekal. "I'm sorry I treated you the way I did. Marrying you wouldn't have been so bad." She faced the edge once more, & whispered, "Come catch me, fair knight..."

Then, she took a step.

And fell.

"Good bye!" she called to all the faces above. "I'll miss you!"

[Willow]

Willow ran screaming to the edge, trying hard to stop Moon. All she caught was the tailing edge of Moon's blouse. Sobbing hysterically, Willow fell to the edge of the cliff, watching her best friend, her Princess, fall over the edge of the cliff and into the water. "I failed....I failed...." Giving in to her injuries at the hands of Zoran, Willow fainted.

[its_me_mango]

yes, in the world of zen, one empties their mind, leaving only schzophrenia, images, pictures and the sound of clacking steel upon steel, as Zelda peered over the edge at the enfeebled hand, she recognized the hand of arcon. "arcon! is that you?" (romeo wherefor art thou), "yes it is" (here i am),
she threw a long peice of hemp at him, hoping he could grab it and make a slow climb up the hill. He grabbed a hold of the hemp, and grilled her: where did the hemp come from, how long is the hemp, will the hemp hold 150 pounds easily, etc. Zelda turned to Mango and asked in Koan: "what is the sound of one hemp hemping" Mango rolled her eyes and responded "thus I heard: whether tis nobler to ask twenty questions or grab ahold of the baby bottle offered is not the question, if I were croaking in a swamp i would try the hemp".

[Zelda]

Everything was superclear, like if her brain was in colour enhancement and slo mo. She saw Moon by the cliff, she heard her speak and she saw her move to jump. She heard Willow scream, and then saw her faint, bleeding from some sort of wounds. The smells, colours, actions were all like a surrealist painting. She could Smell Willows blood, while feeling Moontics guilt, whilst mourning the loss of part of her heart.

[its_me_mango]

i looked up at the flashing picture of adia, and said, it looks a little like me, except younger and more hair. Zelda in a superclear minded format lowered the hemp rope to the arcon of arconia whose hand clutched it - he heaved his mid-sized frame up the rope, inch by crawling inch, over the muck and weeds until at last he found the top of the hill, and embedding the flag of arconia on its crest declared in a loud voice:
I claim this land in the name of queen zelda.

[DamedEscrime]

Jo could not believe what was happening. She was getting nowhere with Zelda. "Fine," she said. "I'll find my own way down. Zelda,you can stay here if you want, but I'm going to find Arcon and now Moon. If nothing else I will find their bodies, but I'm going now."

With that she turned to follow along the cliff in the direction that the river flowed.
A well worn narrow dirt path was the only evidence that this was the way she should go.
She had lost a boot when she almost went over the cliff herself and walked slightly lopsided on the uneven ground. Tall fragrant pines brushed her face and arms as she passed by. Strange that she should notice the smell of the trees at a time like this.

In the quiet of her trek you began to think back. How could all of this happen? What did the Lady Moon mean before she dove off the cliff? And what about Morgan? As soon as she found ner friends she would have to go back for him. Thank goodness Lochinvar was safe at the castle.

[ 10-26-2001: Message edited by: DamedEscrime ]

[DamedEscrime]

It did not take long before the path made a steep incline. Small, sharp rocks poked into one foot while the booted foot slid over the loose stones causing Jo to loose balance on more than one occasion. Finally she thumped onto her bottom. She flailed helplessly trying to grasp a branch to stop herself but came away with a fist full of pine needles.
She tried to dig her heels into the earth but that also failed to stop her when the rough gravel dug into her unbooted foot.
Down she traveled, faster and faster, scraping what seemed to be every part of exposed flesh.

As suddenly as it had begun, her wild ride was over. What had taken only seconds seemed like an eternity. She had no time to think or even scream for help as she jolted to a stop and crumbled in upon herself.

She lay still for a moment taking stock of herself. Nothing seem to be broken, but she could feel the bruising as it began to consume her. Besides that the stinging on her palms told her that her hands had been scraped raw. Gingerly she rolled to her side and then stood. Already she was aching like an old woman. But she had no time to dwell on herself she had a job to do. She had to find Arcon and Moonitic. With any luck she would never again see that hideous beast, Zarcon.

Now unarmed and alone she again turned in the direction of the flowing river and began her search along the banks, looking for any sign of her friends.

[Lord Tellurine]

Meekal was beside himself. This was a first for Meekal… Well, actually it wasn’t. There was one time when he was paying a teatime visit to the not-so-great wizard Oddeldoodle, and he found himself beside himself, after a duplicating spell intended for a cookie had gone astray. Meekal had lost his best friend and the woman he loved on the same day. Involuntarily, he began to cry.

Queen Zelda looked as though she was in a trance, unable to or unwilling to admit to herself that her husband had just plummeted off a cliff into a raging river below.

Willow had fainted. After fighting and killing her own father she had just seen her best friend and the person she had sworn to protect go over the same cliff. Fainting was probably the best thing for her.

Latenight took a big swig from a small flask he produced from his pocket. It didn’t seem to help.

Jo had started down the cliff in a desperate, but feeble attempt to save King Arcon, or at the least find his body. More than likely, King Arcon, or his body would have been swept up by the river’s currents, which were strengthened by the storms that came through a few nights earlier. The river made a half-day’s journey into the Great Northern Sea where the sea’s strong currents carried everything off towards the hundreds of islands that dotted the nautical maps of area. So many islands in fact, that many hadn’t been named or even discovered yet.

Lady Rosaline and the Arconian troops had cleared the woods of the rest of Zarcon’s followers and returned to find that not only did King Arcon go over the cliff, but Lady Moon had also. Lady Rosaline wondered to herself why this whole attempt had been made to save Lady Moon, just for her to throw herself off a cliff anyway. She was used to casualties in a war, but this time the toll had been too great.

And then, in an act that nobody understood, Meekal walked to the cliff’s edge and through a stone over it. It was Derek, the stone that had killed Nefus, who had killed Kliff. Derek had been chipped and was spotted with blood and now he joined Zarcon, Arcon, and Lady Moon. Meekal cried.

[Iwant2bafencer]

Lady Rosaline sat motionless on her horse. There was first a look of shock. When finding out about Moon's fatal fall. Then there was sorrow. Now the look on Rosaline's face was anger, and determintation. She spoke in a voice just above a whisper. "I dont know about the rest of you, but I'm going down there. Jo and I will at least find their bodies." The sound of someone speaking had startled the group. "You cant go down there. It could be dangerous." Latenight protested. "Look I haven't heard even one hint of a scream from Lady Jo, so if she made it I can to." Rosaline glanced at the queen who hadn't moved. She dismounted, and stepped in from of the queen. "I cant just stand here, and not know. They could still be alive!" The queen seemed not to look at the girl in front of her, but though her and to the cliffs edge. "Your Majesty I hope you'll forgive me for this later, but it's for your own good." Rosaline slapped the queen lightly, but hard enough to awaken her from her trance. "What on EARTH was that for?!" The queen demanded. Rosaline bowed her head in a respectful jesture towards the queen. "It was simply to get you out of your trance. Now just standing here wont do us any good! I'm going down there with Jo. You may stay here, you may join me, or you can even start back to the castle. The choice is yours. If you do return to the kingdom. I only ask of you to leave one other horse besides my own for Lady Jo." The queen did not speak. Now it was Meekals turn to protest. "Lady Rosaline dont. ." "I'm going!" She nodded towards Latenight, then headed in the direction Jo had gone.

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Carpe Diem